2.1 Please describe the proposed Specification:

The Java Platform, Standard Edition ("Java SE") is the core Java platform
for general-purpose computing. In this release of the platform, Java SE 7,
we intend to address a number of areas based upon trends in the programming
community, trends in hardware architectures, and above all our continued
commitment to ensuring the broadest possible success of core Java technology
for years to come.

The Java SE 7 Platform Specification will build upon the Java Language
Specification, the Java Virtual Machine Specification, and the Java SE APIs
defined in Java SE 6 by JSR
270. The Platform Specification does not itself define new features, or
enhancements to existing specifications; rather, it enumerates features and
enhancements defined in component JSRs or through the JCP maintenance
process.

The Java SE 7 Platform Specification will aim to support the creation of
maintainable, scalable, and high-performance Java applications across a range
of computing environments. We propose four main themes: Productivity,
Performance, Universality, and Integration.

Productivity

Java SE 7 will promote best coding practices and reduce boilerplate code
by adding productivity features to the Java language and the Java SE APIs.
These features will increase the abstraction level of most applications in a
pragmatic way, with no significant impact on existing code and a minimal
learning curve for all developers. We propose to enable, among other
improvements, the automatic management of I/O resources, simpler use of
generics, and more-concise exception handling.

Performance

Java SE has traditionally offered developers a range of features for
writing scalable multi-threaded applications, for example with monitors in
the Java language and VM and the concurrency utilities defined in JSR 166. To keep up with the
inexorable trend toward multicore CPUs, Java SE 7 will add new concurrency
APIs developed by Prof. Doug Lea and the JSR 166 community. These include,
in particular, a Fork/Join Framework which can adaptively scale some types of
application code to the available number of processors.

Java SE 7 will further enable I/O-intensive applications by introducing a
true asynchronous I/O API as part of JSR 203.

Universality

Building upon the initial work in Java SE 6 to support scripting
languages, Java SE 7 will introduce, via JSR 292, a new "invokedynamic"
bytecode instruction and related APIs which will accelerate the performance
of dynamic languages on the Java Virtual Machine.

Integration

The Java SE Platform provides developers with a wealth of capabilities,
but Java applications do not operate in isolation. A specific pain point for
many years has been that of interacting with native filesystems, where a good
user experience often requires exposing some details of the underlying
platform. Java SE 7 will include a new, flexible filesystem API as part of
JSR 203 which will provide
portable access to common filesystem operations yet also allow
platform-specific code to be written when desired.

This JSR defines a release of the Java SE platform targeted at embedded,
desktop, server, and cloud environments.

2.3 The Executive Committees would like to ensure JSR submitters think about how their proposed technology relates to all of the Java platform editions. Please provide details here for which platform editions are being targeted by this JSR, and how this JSR has considered the relationship with the other platform editions.

This JSR does not target a platform edition; it defines a platform
edition, namely version 7 of the Java platform, Standard Edition. Members of
the Java ME and Java EE communities have already been involved in preliminary
planning activities for this release. We look forward to their continued
involvement as work progresses.

2.4 Should this JSR be voted on by both Executive Committees?

No; SE/EE EC only.

2.5 What need of the Java community will be addressed by the proposed specification?

Continually improving the productivity of Java developers is critical to
keeping the Java SE platform at the forefront of software development.

Exploiting the opportunities of multicore CPUs in a way that is safe and
practical for developers is essential for all Java applications.

With the advent of new programming languages on the JVM it is important
for the JVM to reflect the needs of language implementors, and that the Java
language be able to interoperate with those languages.

In order to provide a competitive user experience Java applications
sometimes need the ability to access and manipulate, in a controlled and
testable fashion, the native semantics of the file system of the underlying
platform.

2.6 Why isn't this need met by existing specifications?

While existing (in progress) JSRs and open-source projects have
investigated the evolution of the Java language, the JVM, and the Java SE
APIs, only a platform JSR can unite the results of these investigations into
a new edition of the Java SE platform.

2.7 Please give a short description of the underlying technology or technologies:

The technologies that make up Java SE 7 will be described by the
component JSRs enumerated in the Java SE 7 Platform Specification. We
propose a candidate list of component JSRs in section 3.1.

2.8 Is there a proposed package name for the API Specification? (i.e., javapi.something, org.something, etc.)

The Java SE platform itself does not have a single package name. All of
its requirements are reflected in the packages of its constituent Java SE
APIs.

2.9 Does the proposed specification have any dependencies on specific operating systems, CPUs, or I/O devices that you know of?

No.

2.10 Are there any security issues that cannot be addressed by the current security model?

None are known at this time.

2.11 Are there any internationalization or localization issues?

None are known at this time.

2.12 Are there any existing specifications that might be rendered obsolete, deprecated, or in need of revision as a result of this work?

JSR 901 (Java Language
Specification), JSR 924
(JVM Specification), and the specifications for certain java.*/javax.*
packages will need to be revised as a result of this JSR.

2.13 Please describe the anticipated schedule for the development of this
specification.

Expert Group formation: December 2010
Early Draft Review: January 2010
Public Review: March 2011
Proposed Final Draft: May 2011
Final Release: July 2011

2.14 Please describe the anticipated working model for the Expert Group working on developing this
specification.

The Expert Group will communicate primarily via e-mail.

2.15 Provide detailed answers to the transparency checklist, making sure to include URLs as appropriate:

The public can read the names of the people on the Expert
Group.

We intend this to be the case.

The Expert Group business is regularly reported on a publicly
readable alias.

We intend this to be the case.

The schedule for the JSR is publicly available, it's current, and I
update it regularly.

We intend this to be the case.

The public can read/write to a wiki for my JSR.

Rather than a wiki which the Expert Group must take time out to visit, we
intend to implement a pair of mailing lists following the approach of JSR 294
and JSR 330. First, Expert Group business will be carried out on a mailing
list dedicated to Expert Group members. Second, an "observer" mailing list
which anyone may join will receive the traffic of the Expert Group list. The
observer list allows the public to follow Expert Group business, and is
writable to allow the public to make comments for other observers to see and
make further comment on. Expert Group members are under no obligation to
join the observer list and partake in public discussion. In addition to
these lists we will maintain a private Expert-Group-only list for
administrative and other non-technical traffic.

I read and respond to posts on the discussion board for my JSR on
jcp.org.

In lieu of tracking the jcp.org discussion board, and in light of the
considerable public attention that the observer list is likely to receive,
the Java SE 7 Platform Specification Lead (or his designates) will read the
observer list and respond directly as appropriate.

There is an issue-tracker for my JSR that the public can
read.

Since the majority of Java SE 7 is developed in component JSRs, it is
intended that the public track those JSRs according to whatever mechanisms
are offered by the JSRs' specification leads.

I have spoken at conferences and events about my JSR
recently.

Yes. The Java SE team at Oracle, as well as external contributors, have
spoken and written about planned enhancements for some time.

I am using open-source processes for the development of the RI
and/or TCK.

The source code for most of the Reference Implementation is being
developed in the JDK 7 Project within the OpenJDK Community. Many of the
features and enhancements described here have already been prototyped and are
available for anyone to test and review in the weekly and milestone binary
releases published at http://download.java.net/jdk7. We intend to continue
this practice as we move toward the Final Release.

The Update tab for my JSR has links to and information about all
public communication mechanisms and sites for the development of my
JSR.

We intend this to be the case.

2.16 Please describe how the RI and TCK will de delivered, i.e. as part of a profile or platform edition, or stand-alone, or both. Include version information for the profile or platform in your answer.

The RI will be the Java Development Kit (JDK), version 7. The TCK will
be the Java Compatibility Kit (JCK), version 7.

2.17 Please state the rationale if previous versions are available stand-alone and you are now proposing in 2.13 to only deliver RI and TCK as part of a profile or platform edition (See sections 1.1.5 and 1.1.6 of the JCP 2 document).

N/A

2.18 Please provide a description of the business terms for the Specification, RI and TCK that will apply when this JSR is final.

3.1 Please list any existing documents, specifications, or implementations that describe the technology. Please include links to the documents if they are publicly available.

The following JSRs will be proposed for inclusion as components of the
Java SE 7 Umbrella JSR. The final Java SE 7 Platform Specification might not
include all of these JSRs, and it might include some JSRs not listed
here.